Cancer is a mysterious disease for many reasons. Chief among the unknowns are how and why tumors form. The team discovered that cancerous cells actively recruit healthy cells into tumors by extending a cable of sorts to grab their neighbors--both cancerous and healthy--and reel them in.

Glioblastoma multiforme, a cancer of the brain also known as "octopus tumors" because of the manner in which the cancer cells extend their tendrils into surrounding tissue, is virtually inoperable, resistant to therapies, and always fatal, usually within 15 months of onset.

Aspirin has been shown to decrease the risk of colorectal cancer and possibly other cancers. However, the risk of side effects, including in some cases severe gastrointestinal bleeding, makes it necessary to better understand the mechanisms by which aspirin acts at low doses before recommending it more generally as a preventative